Five Year Plan
by Klutzygirl33
Summary: A few months after Jay and Gloria's baby is born, Claire decides she wants another child. The five year plan is thrown out.


**Disclaimer**: I don't own Modern Family and never will. No copyright infringement intended.

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Three months after the birth of Gloria and Jay's daughter, Isabella, Claire realized she wanted another baby. It was against the five year plan she and Phil had developed, but they had put off his vasectomy for a reason. She adored Lily and Isabella, and missed having babies around. Besides, the thought of an empty nest was somewhat terrifying. She and Phil hadn't been alone for very long before she got pregnant, and it was a weird thought. Claire wanted that with her husband, to feel free to travel the world with him whenever she wanted, but she also wanted another baby. She kept going back and forth on the idea for weeks before finally bringing it up to her husband. "Let's have another baby."

He stared at her for a few seconds before smiling. "But what about our five year plan?"

She shrugged. "Fuck the five year plan, I guess. We can also make up a new one in eighteen years. We're still young-ish. We can travel then."

"I'm totally and completely in." He had been missing having a baby around the house, too, but had fulfilled that desire by going over to Jay and Gloria's house to take Isabella off their hands for a little while. It worked, but it wasn't the same as having his own kid.

"I'm glad. Alex and Luke are at school, you want to go try now?"

"Yes." He kissed her and they ran off to their bedroom to begin trying to conceive their fourth child. They didn't have much time before their kids came home from school, however.

Five months and several negative pregnancy tests later, Claire tried not to sniffle at the results of her latest attempt. She didn't know why she wasn't getting pregnant – She had gotten pregnant pretty easily with Haley, Alex, and Luke. Was this because she was older now? The results were discouraging, and she was finally beginning to understand how Cam and Mitch felt when their adoption attempts fell through. (They still didn't talk about the last one.) It wasn't the same, of course, but she couldn't help but compare the two situations. "What are we doing wrong this time?"

Phil sighed and was just about to comfort his wife when the idea hit him. "Maybe it's because we didn't try with the other ones. They were all accidents."

"Phil!"

"What? It's true. We didn't plan any of them. Accidentally getting you pregnant seems to work. So we should stop trying and see if that works."

"I don't know how that even made sense, but it did." She would try and forget about ovulation and the right time to conceive – If she was meant to get pregnant, it would happen. Claire and Phil would not try for a baby but also try at the same time, if that made any sense. And Phil was right (for once) – They hadn't planned their kids and it obviously worked well for them.

"Well, I'm glad I helped." He pulled her in for a hug and kissed the top of her head. "I love you."

"I love you, too." Despite all their differences, Claire couldn't imagine her life without him. Phil was it for her.

So after that, Phil and Claire tried his plan and she put the idea of pregnancy in the back of her mind so her stress levels could go way down. Stress was probably one of their main road blocks in conceiving, which is why she tried to keep herself calm, even when Haley, Alex, or Luke (and Phil, of course) did something to upset her. They were freaked out a little, but didn't mind so much if it meant they weren't getting yelled out as much as they used.

Eleven months after they began trying with no success, Claire was ready to give up. How was it fair that her sixty-four year old father had knocked up his wife, but she couldn't even get pregnant again? And that's when she began to think that maybe she and Phil were meant to only have three kids and their family was complete. So she brought up this theory to her husband. "So you're saying you want to stop trying completely?"

Claire nodded. "It's obviously not working, and we didn't want another baby in the first place. We're fine with Haley, Alex, and Luke. And this way we can keep to our five year plan and travel like we originally wanted to." It hurt to give up, but it also hurt that she hadn't gotten pregnant. She was happy.

"That's fine with me." Phil hugged and kissed her. He hated to see Claire get so upset, and he was fine with never having another baby if it meant that she didn't stress herself out about this again.

"So, what do you want for dinner?" Claire prepared to grab something out of the freezer to defrost for later that day.

"You."

"Phil, I'm serious." She glared at him and also tried not to laugh. He always knew how to make her feel better, and she was grateful to him for that. It's one of the reasons she fell in love with him in the first place.

"So am I. Just grab something easy to cook out of the freezer and let's go not make a baby." He leered at her, and this time, Claire laughed.

"Fine. Let's go." She grabbed something out of the fridge, not caring what it was, and followed her husband into their bedroom. They really enjoyed what they were doing for the first time in months and went several rounds. It was nice to have sex without worrying about the best possible position to conceive.

After that day, Phil and Claire put the thought of another baby away. A fourth child wasn't in the cards for them, and they had accepted that. They spoiled Lily and Isabella rotten as a result, along with their own kids. Their family was confused, since Phil and Claire had never told them anything, but they went along with it anyway.

Six weeks after they decided to stop trying to have a baby, Claire started feeling sick and passed it off as the flu after making multiple trips to the bathroom. Unable to keep anything down, she blamed it on Luke, who had come home sick from school a few days previously.

It wasn't until day five of this that Phil of all people finally figured it out. "I don't think you have the flu."

Claire stared at him. "What the hell are you talking about? Of course I have the flu."

"I think you're pregnant. You've been feeling off for days and while you've thrown up a lot, I also noticed that you keep eating peanut butter sandwiches. I'm going to try to not mention that disgusting concoction you ate for dinner last night." He beamed at her and handed her several boxes of pregnancy tests.

Claire was a little terrified to take them as a result of all the negative ones she had been given before. Plus, why had it happened now if she was pregnant? "Fine. I'll take them." She went into the bathroom and then waited impatiently for the results.

All three tests clearly read "Pregnant." She burst into tears and laughed at the same time. "See, I told you! We're having another baby." Phil beamed. He was thrilled that they had finally managed to conceive.

"What changed? We tried for nearly a year." Claire was excited, but also still a little wary. She also made a note to herself to call her doctor and make an appointment.

"Don't they say that sometimes when you stop trying, that's when it happens? Probably happened with us." He was secretly glad that he and Claire had decided to give up now.

"I have heard that before." She leaned and snuggled up against him, feeling stupid for thinking that she had the flu all this time. Claire had gone through this three times before, so why hadn't she realized it sooner?

The next few months passed by rather slowly, at least for the Dunphys. In her sixth month of pregnancy, Cam and Mitch finally got their long awaited son and named him Caleb. Lily was jealous, but finally excited to be a big sister.

Three months later, Claire went into labor in the middle of the night, and delivered her and Phil's fourth child, another boy, whom they named Matthew. He quickly adjusted to the chaos that was the Dunphy-Pritchett family.

Twenty months after they decided to expand their family, Claire and Phil were thrilled about their long awaited fourth child. But they were done. Phil immediately went in for a vasectomy after learning of Claire's pregnancy, and this time, he hadn't backed down. The five year plan was readjusted to the eighteen year plan, and they would be traveling the instant Matthew started college.

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**Author's Note**: I don't see Claire and Phil having another baby, especially after Gloria got pregnant, but I love the idea of the five year plan being thrown out the window. Hope you enjoyed!


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